Stanzas I–VIII

I
In this fourteen six and fiftieth year,
I François Villon, clerk that be,
Considering, with senses clear,
Bit betwixt teeth and collar-free,
That one must needs look orderly
Unto his works (as counselleth
Vegetius, wise Roman he),
Or else amiss one reckoneth, —

II
In this year, as before I said,
Hard by the dead of Christmas-time,
When upon wind the wolves are fed
And for the rigour of the rime
One hugs the hearth from none to prime,
Wish came to me to break the stress
Of that most dolorous prison-clime
Wherein Love held me in duresse.

III
Unto this fashion am I bent,
Seeing my lady, 'neath my eyes,
To my undoing give consent,
Sans gain to her in any wise :
Whereof I plain me to the skies,
Requiring vengeance (her desert)
Of all the gods with whom it lies,
And of Love, healing for my hurt.

IV
If to my gree, alack, I read
Those dulcet looks and semblants fair
Of such deceitful goodlihead,
That pierced me to the heart whilere,
Now in the lurch they've left me bare
And failed me at my utmost need :
Fain must I plant it otherwhere
And in fresh furrows strike my seed.

V
She that hath bound me with her eyes
(Alack, how fierce and fell to me !),
Without my fault in any wise,
Wills and ordains that I should dree
Death and leave life and liberty.
Help see I none, save flight alone :
She breaks the bonds betwixt her and me
Nor hearkens to my piteous moan.

VI
To 'scape the ills that hem me round,
It were the wiser to depart.
Adieu ! To Angers I am bound,
Since she I love will nor impart
Her grace nor any of her heart.
I die — with body whole enough —
For her; a martyr to Love's smart,
Enrolled among the saints thereof.

VII
Sore though it be to part from her,
Needs must I go without delay.
(How hard my poor sense is to stir! )
Other than I with her's in play ;
Whence never Bullen herring aye
Was drouthier of case than I.
A sorry business, wellaway,
It is for me, God hear my cry!

VIII
And since (need being on me laid)
I go and haply never may
Again return, (not being made
Of steel or bronze or other way
Than other men : life but a day
Lasteth and death knows no relent) ;
For me, I journey far away;
Wherefore I make this Testament.